20 Incredibly Bizarre Vintage Halloween Costumes

[Editor’s note: In celebration of the holidays, we’re spending the next two Tuesdays by counting down the top 12 Flavorwire features of 2012. This post, at #7, was originally published October 21st.] What is it about vintage costumes that makes them so much more bizarre — and so much scarier — than their modern equivalents? Were people really that much stranger back then, or do they only look absurd in hindsight? Fed up with the animal-ears-and-a-bra option that, no matter how many times everyone rolls their eyes over it, seems to be the prevailing trend year after year, we decided to look for a little inspiration in vintage photography. We scoured the web for the wildest, weirdest costumes of yesteryear, and came up with everything from toadstools to telephones — and one guy in “fancy dress as a side of bacon.” After the jump, get inspired — or totally freaked out — by our collection of creepy, funny, or just plain bizarre costumes worn by revelers in decades past. We hope you can sleep tonight.